LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Republican Governor Joe Lombardo made a trip to Las Vegas to highlight the increase in violence in schools and to promote a bill he believes is part of the solution.
The governor was on familiar grounds Friday when he visited Valley High School.
“Let me be clear, we don’t need any more victims of school violence. What we need are serious reform and legislative action,” the first-term governor said.
Sade, a teacher who had allegedly been sexually assaulted at Eldorado High School by a student in April of 2022 sat next to the governor during his speech. This was the first time she had publicly been identified.
“Sade is not the first victim of heinous and horrific school violence, but we are fighting to make her one of the last,” Lombardo said.
The governor’s proposal, Assembly Bill 330, which he said aims to change the 2019 restorative justice law.
The bill has the backing of the largest union in Nevada – the Clark County Education Association. It also has the support of all the school superintendents in the state.
Teachers have said the current law handcuffs them in disciplining students. Yet, AB 330 would allow for expelling students who assault staff or sell drugs and the temporary removal of problem children.
According to data from Clark County School District, school police made 94 arrests from August 2022 to mid-February 2023. Most were related to assaults, battery, and fights.
Jodi Cunningham was one of the Valley High School teachers in attendance for the governor’s event, and she liked what he had to say.
“I’m all about making school safer. This is my job that I come to every day, and I love it and I love our kids here. But it is harder when they are afraid some kind of violent act can happen to them,” Cunningham said.
According to the governor, there has been a 46% increase in violence and sexual assaults reported at CCSD since 2019.
With those statistics, 8 News Now asked Lombardo whether he supports breaking up CCSD or having the state take the district over.
“Well, those efforts have failed to break up the Clark County School District, and I don’t think it’s necessary for the Governor, me specifically, and the state of Nevada, to go to those extremes,” Lombardo said.
He sees his bill as a solution to prevent that.
Court records show Jonathan Martinez Garcia, the teenager accused of sexually assaulting the Eldorado High School teacher, is scheduled to appear in district court next Wednesday. Court records show he plans to enter a plea.